Thinking of leveling BST

[Tipsy]

I was considering leveling BST, I even purchased all the equipment needed (at level 23) for it, however, it has been dully noted from my experience that it levels extremely slow... I don't know if this is because I suck at it (probably), and the fact I die quite often/load of down time. I charmed a leech at the "secret beach" in Valkrum, and I 2-hr'd. I was there for around 30minutes destroying everything insite, and I only got around 2k exp... :x that's w/o the EXP band. I hear it's rather slow until 35, but come on.

I would really like to take it to 75, I just don't want it to take forever and a day.

EDIT: If the question isn't clear, ideally, it's just whether or not it picks up to a point where it'd be equivalent to the leveling speeds of LFG / EXP parties, etc, chain amounts solo, anything relevant.

[Satori]

Re: Thinking of leveling BST

Bst isn't exactly slow. Each camp takes a little while to develop a rhythm and once you've done that it'll speed up and you will be able to find your limit. Granted bad things happen links aggro etc but that's to be expected.
Also depending on the camp. The pets prey all have their advantages leeches are amazing pets which you'll come to love. Bombs on the other hand make great prey.

I'll be honest I never really saw many chains till the late 30's but that's partly down to me not understanding the job much.
Charming a pet higher than you and then 2hr ing may seem like a good idea but the exp will be bad you can find this on the wiki also.

Bst is a very self sufficient job, exp gained solo farming can be done reliably crafting becomes a good idea especially cooking. All that aside it doesnt get many options in regards to quest's and missions and story advancement.
Bst makes a bad choice for a first job looking back I would of chose something else.
I got lucky in advancement as I was given "pity slot's" in teams at times. People will tell you that they've seen a bst do this and that. All that aside even if you were the best Bst on the server the job itself would still be overlooked. Which lead me to level other options.

When you get leave it makes chaining alot more viable and allows more flexibility.
I do recomend you try it out. But research it a little before you completly cast it aside.
Even now in the 60's for me I reckon a level a day is more than possible for a while yet.
The only thing that made me slow down was bringing in gil to fund my gear.
I would mention the Bcnm's we can solo but I stopped doing that a long time ago I used to make a pretty penny from astral rings but the risk/reward isn't worth the eventual payoff to me.

I hope that helps.

[Elwynn]

Re: Thinking of leveling BST

There's two ways you can do it: either go chaining on EM and T, or do FoV pages on EP and DC. I've been doing the latter. If you pick the right pages, it not only makes up for not chaining, but you can also get some good drops.

In particular, the pages 2 and 3 in Batallia are good to 39, and page 4 in Yhoator is good to 58. If you have clothcraft leveled, bring lightning to the jungle and synth the cocoons into thread. I got a bit bored of crawlers at 57, so I went off to West Altepa for page 3. (Do the cacutar by staying at a distance and throwing pets at it.)

[Losrase]

Re: Thinking of leveling BST

I would suggest going here http://www.ffxionline.com/forums/bea...-me-first.html

Or

FFXI wiki and go to the Beastmaster job. Near the bottom of the page, there are a couple Beastmaster camp guides. (Viable hunting grounds and the other I forgot).